Reconstruction of paleoecological and paleofire dynamics of the Tobol areas based on materials from lake-swamp deposits of Oskino

Abstract

The paper compares palaeoecological, archaeological and palaeo-fire data from lake-swamp deposits of the Tobol river region, obtained as a result of the study of the Oskino wetland lake. The dependence of palaeofire dynamics on human economic activity and climate-induced changes in plant communities is analysed. The reconstruction covers 9.6 ka, including the entire period of occupation of the area, as well as the end of the Greenlandian stage and the beginning of the Northgrippian stage. Comparison of pollen data, concentration of macroscopic charcoal particles in lake-swamp sediments showed a correlation between decreasing moisture levels, increasing conifer proportion in forest composition and increasing fire frequency. It has been established on the vegetation anthropogenic influence was little (pollen data) partly due to this is related to the orientation population towards an appropriative type of economy up to 4.5 ka BP. The palynological data not show significant changes in the residential landscape or an increase in the frequency of fires in connection with the emergence of livestock breeding in the Late Bronze Age. In the Early Iron Age, semi-nomadic livestock breeding was formed the population probably did not need to burn forests for grazing, so the intensity of fires did not increase.